I learned in college that teachers make 3,000 decisions in a workday, ONE WORKDAY!

I laughed so hard...

that breaks down to 375 decisions an hour,

6 decisions a minute, A MINUTE!

Then I started teaching and I laughed SO HARD again, 3,000? No Way!

Try 6,000 Decisions a Day!

May I go to the bathroom? yes or no

May I take a friend to the bathroom? yes or no

May I pick Paul? yes or no

Paul doesn't want to go to the bathroom, can I pick someone else? yes or no

Can I pass the papers out? yes or no

Should I start this lesson or wait to see if a few more students check in late?yes or no

Should I set out some work for the volunteer that MIGHT show up?yes or no

Should I ignore Ellen's behavior and hope she matures?yes or no

Should I call Ellen's Mom?yes or no

Can I go home early or do I have to stay from training?yes or no

AND

This is usually before the first bell!

No wonder all you want to do at 3:30 is sit with a bag of burnt popcorn at your desk!

Oh yeah! You've been there, you get it!

But the hard part, the SAD :( part, is we take it home with us....teachers grade papers, write lesson plans, review IEPs, call parents, all sorts of things from their own home, on their own time...that's what makes them such a great teacher!

But everything you take home, be it in a bag or just in your brain, can wear on you...you lie in bed at night...

Should I go in early tomorrow to make next week's copies?yes or no

Should I call Ellen's Mom AGAIN tomorrow?yes or no

Should I stop at Starbucks BECAUSE I DESERVE IT?yes or no

All of these questions and decisions can leave you tired and restless before the stress of the day even starts.

**SO HERE IS THE TIP**

Keep a stickie notepad and a pen next to your bed, when a question pops into your brain, write it down and leave in on your bedside table.

DO NOT LET THE IDEA

take up room in your brain for the rest of the night once it is on paper. If you thought, "I should catch up on my RTi paperwork tomorrow."

Write it down and do not allow yourself to think about it again, if it crosses your mind, talk yourself out of it....say, "I've already written this down, I will not deal with it again until the morning."

Don't worry about writing in the dark, you are the only one who is going to read this note!

Then in the morning, gather up all your stickie notes and put them in your planner, your bag, your purse, whatever, and when you get to school, throw them away one at a time as you deal with them, it is a HANDS-ON To Do List and you will feel better and better getting them done and out of the way.

AND

Out of Your Brain!

Now I know some of you are saying,

"I have an app for that."

OR

"I have a calendar on my phone for that."

That's not the point, once in bed and you are on your phone you'll look at your email, one more time, or Facebook, one more time. You want to use this trick to stop the school thoughts from racing around in your brain at night and interfering with a great night's sleep. Don't Use an App!Soon you'll get to the point that you wouldn't need the stickie notes, you'll be trained to stop yourself from thinking about school until tomorrow.I hope you can get a great night's sleep!

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3 comments

Ha! I write them down, I just need help getting them out of my head once they are down! And I usually find that I throw a lot of them away (or cross them out) the next day without even doing them bc it's usually a "what was I even thinking?!" moment!

I do this ALL the time - sometimes I can't read what I wrote in the morning, but it turns out I remember it just from writing it down. I also have a trick where if I need to remember to grab or do something before I leave the house, I toss the remote for. The tv or a book on the floor where I'll step over it when I get up. That jogs my memory to do what I needed to remember! ~ Lisa